Nightmare
by Emzieluvsbooks
Summary: "He screamed with rage and grief as the whispers tormented him and the fire consumed him and the invisible force kept him locked in place, unable to go to his brothers' aid." This is my first story ever. Please read and review.


**AN: So this is my very first story ever. I hope you all enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. It never will be mine (sigh)**

_Station 51. Station 98. Truck 126. Structure fire. 12388 Densmore. 12388 Densmore. Cross Street, Rita. Time out, 13:24._

Sirens wailed as fire engines rushed towards the scene, the sounds blending and melting together to create an eerie harmony. Toxic, black smoke poured from the windows of the five-story building, blotting out the sky and choking the air. A group of spectators watched, too close for safety, in awe of the flickering, writhing flames peeking through the first-floor windows.

Pulling up with the brakes squealing, Station 51 was the first to reach the smoke choked building. Captain Stanley hopped out of the engine and quickly assessed the scene. "Okay we'll go in with inch and a halfs. John, Roy, take the third floor. Chet, Marco take the second," he ordered, pulling out his HT as he did so. "Station 98, Engine 51. Lay a line in the front of the building. Go in with inch and a halfs. Truck 106, come into the front and ventilate."

Snapping the antenna back into handy-talkie, Hank noticed that the other stations were arriving. Quickly moving over, Captain Stanley started directing them to where they were most needed. As he was yelling orders into his HT, he noticed his paramedics and his linemen enter the burning building. _Into the jaws of the dragon,_ Captain Stanley thought. _Please be careful you guys. Come back safe. _Then he went back to directing the controlled chaos of the firefighters and the engines around him.

_Emergency!_

Pulling their inch and a half along behind them, Johnny and Roy started up the stairs toward the third floor. The smoke started pressing in around them, becoming denser and more choking with every moment. The unmistakable hissing and cracking of fire came from one of the rooms they moved towards.

Breaking in the door, they started beating back the flames with the water from their hoses. Reluctantly, the monster gave ground foot by foot, hissing and spitting with fury, until most of it was gone, drowned by the water spraying from the hose. That's when Johnny noticed the man lying in the room, splinters of wood and larger debris resting on top of him.

"Hey Roy," Johnny yelled, his voice distorted by his mask, "we got a victim."

Roy looked over and saw the man as well. "Okay, I've got this. You go to him."

Nodding, Johnny carefully let go of the hose and knelt by the man's side, feeling for a pulse. "He's alive Roy, but he's stuck pretty good by this debris," Johnny said, reaching for his HT. "Engine 51, we've got a victim up here. We're gonna need the porta-power to get him out. We're on the third floor, second door to the left."

"10-4," Stanley said, gesturing for Mike.

Seeing him beckoning, Mike walked over, "Yeah, Cap?"

Bringing the HT down from his mouth, Hank said, "John and Roy need the porta-power, so I need you to bring it to 'em. They're on the third floor in the second room to the left. Better take some oxygen too."*

"Don't you need me to control the water Cap?" Mike asked, his confusion obvious in his voice.

The Cap shook his head, and said, "Not right now Mike. The engineers from the other stations are handling it okay. I know that I would normally do this myself, but I need to stay here and direct the other engines right now and the other firefighters are busy, so that leaves you."

"Right Cap," Mike said, and started running towards the engine to get the equipment.

Bringing the HT to his mouth once more, the captain said, "Okay guys, Mike's on his way with the porta-power."

"_10-4," _came the crackling reply.

Mike rushed by him with the porta-power in one hand and the oxygen in the other, heading towards the entrance of the burning building.

_Emergency!_

Continuing to balance the porta-power and the oxygen, Mike rushed as carefully as he could up the stairs, keeping an eye out for hoses or debris that could cause him to trip and fall. Cinders and smoke pressed in around him, trying their hardest to blind and choke anyone who dared to come through.

Reaching the second floor, he saw Chet and Marco directing the water from their hoses in a steady stream onto a pile of boxes, alight with flame. Stopping for a brief moment to see that they had the situation under control, Mike quickly started climbing the steps again, knowing that they all would have to hurry.

Climbing up a few more steps, Mike finally reached the third floor and rushed to where he was told Johnny and Roy would be. When he saw them crouching over the victim, Mike walked over and laid the equipment down, wasting no words.

Hearing another presence behind him, Johnny turned and saw Mike and the much needed equipment. "Thanks Mike."

Nodding, Mike reached for the oxygen and fitted the mask over the victim's face, returning Roy's oxygen back to him, which had been supplying the man with oxygen moments before. Then he grabbed the porta-power, placing it underneath the debris and started pumping, causing the wood to rise off of the victim bit by bit.

Roy looked around the room, noticing the liquid thickness of the smoke, the taunting dance of sparks and cinders. The very building seemed to be giving in to the fire, creaking and groaning its death rattle. _We need to get out of here now_, he thought, and said, "Is he almost out?" the worry he felt leaking into his voice.

Johnny looked over, knowing why his friend was so anxious, and then looked down at the debris, still rising steadily, though more slowly than needed. "A bit more and he'll be out," he said, both to Mike and to Roy.

Mike nodded and continued to pump, waiting for Johnny to tell him to stop. Johnny crouched next to the debris, waving his hand for him to continue. A little more…a little more…okay stop. Mike stopped and reached over to help pull the victim out, then over his shoulder and onto his back. Johnny helped to steady him and made sure the oxygen stayed firmly on the victim's face, while Roy grabbed the porta-power and the now uncharged hose.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Roy said, gesturing for them to hurry when suddenly Captain Stanley voice came over the HT.

"Guys, get out of their! Get out n-"

He never got the chance to finish.

_Emergency!_

Chet and Marco were finishing with the pile of boxes when they noticed the choking density of the smoke the heat radiating from a wall to their right. Realizing that their was probably a fire behind that wall, Chet stayed behind to continue to douse the boxes with water while Marco walked over with an ax to start chopping a hole in the wall in order to expose the fire. Chet moved over after a while and sent water into the newly made hole, trying to kill the flames before they became uncontrollable.

Noticing that the smoke was still getting thicker, Marco called, "Hey Chet!"

Chet looked over at Marco, and had started moving towards him when their HT crackled to life with Hank Stanley's panic stricken voice. "Guys, get out of there! Get  
out n-"

But the unthinkable cut him off.

_Emergency!_

Captain Stanley was in front of the building, still directing the other engines when a terrible feeling of foreboding came over him. He glanced around, but saw nothing awry, so he waved it away as nothing serious. He continued to direct the firefighters, the feeling of foreboding and apprehension increasing by the second. He continued to look around, puzzled by the feeling as everything seemed to be going smoothly. He went back to what he was doing, chills still creeping up and down his spine.

That's when some of the linemen from Engine 98 ran out of the building, one supporting the other. Several firefighters ran over to help him, but he ripped his mask off and waved them away, yelling at them to do something that Captain Stanley did not catch. Most of them stayed behind to help get the incapacitated fireman to safety, but one ran over Hank with an expression of near panic on his face.

Skidding to a halt in front of Hank, the fireman said, "You got to get your men out of there, Cap. Tom says that the place is gonna go up any second."

"Damn!" Captain Stanley grabbed his HT and yelled, "Guys get out of there! Get out n-"

But before he could finish, his world was ripped apart.

_Emergency!_

Explosion after explosion ripped through the air as the building was blown to pieces. Hank was thrown off his feet by the force of them as clouds of flame and smoke billowed up. Flame that now consumed the building entirely as even more explosions decimated it to a mere skeleton of the building it was before. Explosions that _nobody_ could have survived.

Hank struggled to his feet. He had to get up; he had to get to his men, the men he ordered into the building. The men he had ordered to their deaths.

But they couldn't be dead, they _couldn't _be. He was going to help them. He was going to help them out of the raging inferno they were in. He was going to help them out of that terrible hell. And they were going to be alright. Because they _had_ to be.

He tried to run towards the building, now consumed by flame, but something was restraining him. Something was keeping him from helping his men, his brothers, and he hated it. He struggled and fought, but he was kept locked in place, frozen, unable to do anything. The fire twisted and lurched, taunting him, tormenting him, mocking him as he struggled against his invisible foe. He screamed his frustration and his grief as he was forced to watch, forced to watch as the flames consumed everything in its path. Forced to watch the fire as it consumed his family.

_It was your fault_, a voice whispered in his ear as he screamed. _You sent them in there. You knew something was wrong. You could have gotten them out. It was your fault. _And still he was held, like a captive, and his world went red with flame and smoke and rage and grief.

_It was your fault…your fault…your fault…_And he screamed again as the whispers tormented him and the fire consumed him and the invisible force kept him locked in place, unable to go to his brothers' aid.

_Emergency!_

"Cap…Cap you need to wake up now…Wake up Cap, you're having a nightmare!"

Gasping, Captain Stanley jerked upright, the images from his nightmare still whirling around his head. Hank brought his hands to his eyes and, astonished, found them wet with tears he had not realized he had shed. Slowly he realized that someone had their hands on his shoulders, and as the nightmare dimmed from his eyes, he saw his engineer watching him, concern etched into his face.

"Are you alright Cap?" he asked, his concern leaking into his voice as well.

But his captain wasn't listening. He was looking at him, looking with astonishment in his eyes, then at the other members of his crew gathered around him. All of them had the same look of worry, but also understanding about them. There was Johnny, his long hair all mussed from sleep, with Roy right next to him. Marco was behind him with Chet last of all, and every single one of them were alive, alive and well. Hank looked back at Mike and pulled him into a fierce hug, laughing from sheer relief as the ghastly images from his nightmare slowly faded. Then laughter turned into silent tears as he hugged Mike tighter, thanking his lucky stars that it was indeed just a dream.

A little startled, Mike hugged him back as the rest of the team crowded in closer, murmuring words of comfort to their captain, who had so often done the same for them. For each of them knew what his nightmare had been about as they had all experienced it themselves on different occasions.

Mike, who was still being hugged by Captain Stanley, was starting to feel as though his ribs were bruising, but he didn't pull away. He knew that what his captain needed was contact, so that he could convince himself that his nightmare was nothing but a dream. Hank seemed to realize his discomfort, however, and he let go, wiping at his eyes. "Sorry Mike," he said softly.

"Anytime Cap," and he meant it.

Hank looked around at his men, still in a ring around him, and grinned. "Thank you guys," he said, "Now get back to bed; I've kept you all up long enough already."

"Right Cap," they said, and then they dispersed to their different bunks, most clapping him on the shoulder as they went in a final attempt of comfort.

Captain Stanley watched them go, and then slowly lowered himself back onto his pillows. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep tonight for fear of a recurrence of his nightmare. Instead he just lay there, listening to the sounds of his men falling back asleep, and prayed that his dream would never become a reality.

**AN: I hope you all liked it. I apologize for any technical errors I have made since I know next to nothing about firefighting. Please please please please please please please review. I welcome all constructive criticism but please no flames. REVIEW!**

***Yes, I know that the Cap would never send Mike into the building because he needs him to control the water. I am sorry, but it was only a dream, so that explains the unrealisticness (is that even a word?) of that event. It was necessary to the story for him to go into the building. I tried to make it as realistic as possible. Please don't hate me (begging on hands and knees)**


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